The Bubblegum Crisis
by Lady Tyria
Summary: Ryoma and Marui have an.... interesting relationship. Shonen Ai.
1. Chapter 1

**The Bubblegum Crisis**  
Author: Orestria aka Lady Tyria  
Rating: PG - PG13 (for the omake?)  
Summary: Ryoma has recently taken to chewing gum, and the regulars wonder...why?  
Warnings: Crack Pairing  
Dedicated to: tenshiforgotten for helping me out with getting a hold of the opening theme video, Rin-chan for her inspirational aid.

Disclaimer: Not mine, and neither is bubblegum crisis... nor does this actually have anything to do with that anime.

* * *

"Did you see it, Oishi? Did you? Did you?" Eiji asked, while bouncing up and down in bubbly excitement. His partner could have sworn the redhead wasn't that energetic before they went to the water fountains together.

Of course, it doesn't help things any that the vice-captain had no earthly idea what the hyper youth is talking about, "Did I see what? When? Eiji, what are you talking about?"

The mother of Seigaku opened the club house door, only to be confronted by the resident data specalist, Inui. His glasses shimmered omniously, "Yes, what is it that you saw, Kikumaru?"

"Ochibi was..." He paused, showing more of a flare for the dramatic than one might have expected from him. Unless, of course, they knew about his love of gossip, and that gossip is only as good as the rendition of the gossiper. He was pleased to find he quickly has the attention of everyone in the clubhouse, which consisted of all the regulars, with the exception of the boy genius in question. He noticed that even Tezuka was looking at him out the side of his glasses (no doubt to make sure whatever the acrobatic half of the golden pair is blathering on about doesn't have an effect on Ryoma's tennis), "Chewing bubble gum!"

The captain simply rolled his eyes at that nonsense and went back to changing out of his clothes from practice. Oishi was rather bewildered. Usually, he was pretty good at figuring out his partner, but this one he just doesn't get. Most of the rest of the team looked at him like he might have lost it. Fuji just smiled. The blank stares and weird looks he was receiving, even from his partner, made Eiji pout. Didn't they understand how weird it was for Ryoma to chew gum? He scanned the room quickly for support.

He found it in the form of Inui, his new unexpected ally. The statician was dutifully scribbling this information into his notebook, "Interesting data. I also recently encountered Echizen while partaking in a piece of bubblegum, earlier in the locker room."

"Now that you mention it..." Momoshiro added his two cents to the conversation, "We went to the burger place for lunch today, but Echizen didn't eat much. And once he was done, he took out a piece of bubble gum and started chewing it."

"Umm..." Kawamura started hesitantly, "During that sudden rainfall yesterday... Well, I'm not sure, since I was running, but it might have been him. I.. I think I say Echizen taking shelter under an awning, and I think he was chewing bubble gum as well. Aa, but I may be mistaken!"

Inui nods once and mumbles to himself, writing down both of these accounts. Hoping for more witnesses, he glances at the remaining regulars. Tezuka remained as expressionless as ever. In fact, it seemed like he'd ignored the entire conversation, and he was almost ready to leave. Fuji's expression was equally unreadable, although instead of a serious poker face, it was a small, polite smile. No help from those two. His gaze landed on Kaidoh, who Fshuu'd quietly under the attention. Yes, the underclassman knew something.

"Anybody else?" The data player asked, except it was obviously directed at Kaidoh. The square glasses glinted with white light, appearing even more opaque than normal. Behind the spectacles, his eyes were directed at the viper as well.

"Fshhuuu. I may have run by him on the street when training." He glanced away, since he wasn't sure what his upperclassmate was getting at, nor did he likely want to know. However, since Inui seemed to be refusing to move on, he adds, "Chewing bubble gum."

Oishi raised his hands, trying to get this situation (how did bubble gum turn into a situation?) under control, "Please, everyone. What does it matter if Ryoma chews some bubble gum?"

"It's not the bubblegum." Inui explained, in the same sort as tone one might use for explaining a boring math problem, "It's the number of incidences over a short period of time. We have 5 sightings, most of the times varied enough it could not be the same gum, all within the past twenty four hours... and no record of any previous incidents."

"Exactly what I meant nya!" Eiji exclaimed, "I've never seen ochibi have anything sugary, other than those Ponta drinks, and suddenly he's chewing gum? It's strange! It's very, very strange!"

"What's strange, Kikumaru-senpai?" Pop.

"Unnnnnnnyaa!" Eiji jumped into his doubles partner's arms, scared by the sudden appearance of Ryoma. Chewing Bubble gum. The boy wonder had just entered into the clubroom.

He had the undivided attention of the small room, except for perhaps Inui, who's attention couldn't be described as 'undivided' since he was scribbling like mad in his notebook. This doesn't phase Echizen at all, asuming he even noticed. He quickly got his things together and headed back out of the locker room. Too quickly.

"Interesting..." Inui muttered. Ryoma was usually one to take his time. Apathetically lazy, really. It definitely seemed like the first year has somewhere to be, and Inui, being Inui, wanted to know where and why. The only logical solution was to follow the capped boy. So he did.

Eiji grinned a big, goofy, stupid grin. He would get to the bottom of this mystery, in the only way he knows how... by stalking Ryoma and depriving him of his privacy. Hey, he's cute, he can get away with this kind of stuff. He slinked off after ochibi, all stealthy like. At least, he thought he was being stealthy.

Momoshiro followed rather quickly. Oishi followed too, but only because he was trying to stop the rest of them. Kaidoh and Kawamura wanted nothing to do with it, but they had to go outside anyways to go home, so for a moment it kind of looked like they were following. Fuji nearly giggled at the exasperated look barely discernable on the captain's face. He grabs Tezuka by the wrist, then followed the other regulars, "When in Rome, Tezuka..."

However, the pack of regulars didn't have to go very far at all to locate Ryoma. He was just about to head through the front gate, when he was intercepted by a boy with bright red hair. A very annoyed looking boy with bright red hair who some members of Seigaku recognized as Marui Bunta from Rikkaidai. But what kind of trouble could he have with the first year that was a big enough deal for him to come all the way to Seishun Gakuen?

The entire rest of the Seigaku tennis regulars are forced to hide by the school fence, watching and listening from as close as Eiji and Inui dared get.

Inui had his notebook at ready, but before he could suggest any theories, the two players started talking, and the regulars had to stay quiet to be able to hear.

"Echizen!" Marui was far too upset to keep his voice down, not that the several comfort cakes he'd eaten on the way there would help with his volume control, "You stole my gum! Again! You took the whole pack this time, and I don't even know how you managed that... now give it back!"

Ryoma pulls out the empty package of gum, shrugs, and hands it to the boy from the other school, "This is the last piece."

The redhead was saddened by the loss of his gum (he spends enough money keeping himself supplied without someone syphoning it off), but soon he developed a bit of a smirk on his face, "Then... I'll just take it back."

"Go right ahead." The boy wonder replied, a remarkably similar expression on his face.

Oishi covered his partner's eyes just before the couple could kiss, which they did with little delay. Marui leaned down, locking his lips to the younger boys. He doesn't hesitate in licking Ryoma's lips, so that the boy wonder would allow his tongue into his mouth. They remained lip-locked for a moment, and then Marui pulled away, a big grin on his face. He chewed, and chewed, then blew a bubble.

Ryoma put his hands behind his head, grinning like the cat who ate the canary and the goldfish too, "Well, since you've all ready come all the way here, why don't you come over to my house?"

Marui's bubble burst, "You... You had this planned out, didn't you?"

"Mada mada da ne." Ryoma replied, walking off in the direction of his house, expecting the red head to follow. Bunta chased after him, annoyed, and not willing to drop the matter yet. The two bickered til they're out of earshot.

Eiji finally squirmed his way out of Oishi's protective grasp, only to have missed the entire show. He whined, "Oishiiiiiiiiiii What happened?"

"Well..." Oishi started, a little stunned by what he'd just seen, "I think we know why Echizen has started chewing gum."

"Ehhhhhh! What did I miss? Oishi nya Tell me!" Eiji pulled on his partner's sleeve. Finally Oishi gave in and whispered to the acrobatic player what he'd missed, and his face turned the colour of his hair.

Inui was scribbling like mad in his notebook. Momoshiro and Kaidoh were in agreeance abuot something for once, both had a light blush tinting their cheeks,

Kawamura appeared to have fainted at some point, although no one could tell you when exactly that had happened. Fuji smiled appologetically at Tezuka, who he'd dragged along. Tezuka cleared his throat, "Thirty laps, all of you."

* * *

OMAKE

Rin-chan's inspiritional aid,  
also known as  
how the kiss went in her mind.

The slightly taller boy seems entirely amused with Ryoma's antics. Letting his gaze wander briefly around the room, taking particulr delight in the golden pair's reaction. Taking a step closer, he gazes down at the boy genius, his grey-brown eyes bright and intense with some sort of emotion... Humor? Lust?

Ryoma glances up at him in order not to break eye contact, his eyes equally intense.

Marui, leans down and resting one hand on the other boy's shoulder, he raises the other to Ryoma's cheek. Letting his fingers carress his lips

"That smirk could get you into trouble... It's rather..."

nuzzling into the smooth bend of Ryoma's neck he finishes, his breath warm against the boy's skin

"Fetching"

Ryoma swallows past his own racing pulse, rasing his own hands to the red haired boy's chest, gripping the white uniform shirt tightly, his emerald eyes fluttering shut.

Marui presses a series of ever-so-soft kisses along his neck, just a brush of lips to tickle and tease the skin.

Ryoma moans softly before grabbing the other boy by his tie and jerking him back to look him straight in the eyes, Both of their cheek's flushed  
"I thought you wanted your gum back... Mada Mada dane..."  
Marui cock's an eyebrow at him and grins boyishly, before again closing the distance between them, and taking the young tensai by the wrists, pins his arms up over his head, knocking the ever-present hat off in the process.

"So eager..."

He lowers his face to Ryoma's and presses his lips to his in a passionate kiss.

"For.."

A second, quick and chaste peck on the lips

"A challenge."  
He switches Ryoma's wrists over into one hand, and kissing the green haired bishonen again, with more lust... he lets his now free hand wander.

His hand slips under Ryoma's shirt, tracing his fingers softly along his sides.

Ryoma shudders involuntarily, and blushes a brighter shade of crimson, moaning softly into the kiss, as Marui deepens it.

The red haired boy, lets his small pink tongue flick out over the tensai's, tasting him before thrusting it into his mouth aggressively, Ryoma's tongue meeting it an eager carress.

Poor Oishi looked like his brain was about to explode, his eyes the size of saucers, desperately trying to keep Eiji shielded... the genki-tennis player, had quickly grown bored, and exceedingly curious as to what he wasn't allowed to see... and what was POSSIBLY taking so long.

Just as Eiji squirms free and gasps loudly, pointing at the lip-locked pair, Marui breaks away, A breathless Ryoma, staggering against him.

The taller boy, wraps an arm around his shoulder, laughing (also a little breathless) he blows a big green bubble, letting it burst with a loud, wet -crack-.

"Game. Set. Match Eichizen-kun."

* * *

This story came about because the last opening sequence in the anime just makes my brain scream ryomaxbunta. I don't care how little that makes sense

Reviews make authors happy


	2. Chapter 2

**The Great CAPer**

The Sequel to Bubblegum Crisis

Author: Orestria

Rating: PG

Summary: Marui needs to get vengeance on his boyfriend for the little stunt he pulled last time. Need a further hint? Marui is to Bubblegum as Ryoma is to ...?

Warnings: ...STILL a crack pairing.

Disclaimer: Not mine, and neither is Bubblegum crisis... nor does this actually have anything to do with any anime.

Dedicated to rukariel.

The younger boy's right leg was under a considerable amount of stress. This situation displeased him greatly, although there really wasn't anything he could do about it at the moment. Of course, this lack of agency only annoyed him further. In theory, he could move it... But then both he and his companion would be in a much worse situation; at best, falling down all the way back down to the ground which was not an insignificant distance, at worst criminal charges for breaking and entering. Alright, that was exaggeration. They clearly hadn't gotten past trespassing yet.

He snarled at his partner in crime, and once the sudden noise that had startled them into pausing their perilous ascent did not materialize into anything of any consequence, he growled to the redhead, "How _exactly _did you convince me into this again?"

Marui smiled as innocently as he could, considering the fact that his arms are supporting fully two thirds of his weight, in the middle of illegally scaling a wall, "Because I'm cute. Come on, we need to keep moving."

This argument may have been more convincing had the remaining third of the redhead's weight not been on Kirihara's suffering right leg, along with most of the second-year's own weight. Marui inched his way up the small gap between the chimney of the house and the wall of the structure itself, freeing Kirihara to move his sore leg, shifting his weight to the left now. "Maybe," Kirihara acknowledged, as he did happen to find his upper year man rather cute, "But you're also my ex."

The redhead blew and popped a bubble in aversion as though the topic at hand had been done to death. As he climbed up some more, he replied nonchalantly, "That's not my fault. Could you please be a bit quieter, or do you _want_ us to get caught?"

"Not your fault?!" The raven-haired boy exclaimed as incredulously as he could while barely managing to keep his dismay at a whisper volume. They continued to slink their way up the domicile even as their conversation rapidly turned the corner towards argument. He shifted his weight slightly to the back, enough to free a finger to point accusingly at Marui, "You're the one that dumped me!"

In hindsight, moving, especially for such a useless gesture, was probably a remarkably poor decision on the part of the younger boy. So precarious was the entwined position they'd gotten themselves into that the small breach in their bracing caused them to rapidly descend about a foot before Kirihara managed to catch them, securing his feet again after accidentally kicking loose a small chunk of brick in his rush to get them stationary again. Neither of them could tell anything about what they'd knocked free, except that it managed to make one hell of a racket on its way down to the bushes beneath them.

Marui had found himself in a more awkward position than he particularly liked, as by the end of that little journey he was practically sitting in Kirihara's lap, facing him. There wasn't anything particularly uncomfortable about the position itself, all things considered, and a few months back the redhead wouldn't have found it quite so weird for one of them to be in the other's lap. However, that was the past, this is the present, and considering that they are currently halfway up Marui's boyfriend's house, it would seem prudent for him to pull away. Also, since their careful ascent was starting to get tiring, sitting around straining their muscles didn't seem the most ingenious idea.

Before the redhead can extract himself from his current position, his ex-boyfriend's left arm wrapped around him, pulling him close. Before Marui can protest, as he was surely about to (and loudly), Kirihara hushed him, "Shh. Someone's coming."

"Hum hum hum..." An older sounding man muttered, progressively getting louder (and thus likely closer), " 'I'm sure I heard something, Uncle. Please go check it out.' Feh. Doesn't she know what happens when someone investigates a mysterious sound? By themselves?? Hmph."

Marui held his breath and could hear -- no, feel -- Kirihara do the same, as a middle aged man who'd clearly been watching too many horror films wandered about down below them. Judging from what the redhead had learned about his boyfriend's family, it must be his father. He'd never seen or met him before, despite having been to the house a couple times. If he weren't scared to move, he'd smirk. His boyfriend wasn't quite as oblivious to all things not tennis as people tended to think. In fact, the redhead had only really been introduced to one member of the family.

The man looked about some, but nothing at all like he was particularly invested in discovering the source of any noise that may have occurred outside... definitely not to the point of looking up, thank god. In fact, he barely seemed to be looking around at all. Instead, he wandered over to a tree, and out of a hole in its trunk, pulled out a plastic bag with some kind of magazine protected by it. The older Rikkaidai player made a face when he realized exactly what kind of reading material the man had chosen. No wonder Ryoma was in no hurry to introduce his boyfriend to his father. Marui wanted to look away, but didn't want to risk getting them caught through any noise that could be produced by them shifting again.

Luckily, they didn't have to see how long the pervert could spend pouring over his titty rag. A girl's voice rang out from the direction Ryoma's dad had originally come from, "Uncle Nanjirou? Are you alright?"

The man quickly stuffed the magazine back in its protective cover, and back into its hiding spot, "Aa... yes Nanako. Everything's fine. It was probably just a stray or something in the bushes." He headed out of sight, presumably back into the house.

"Finally." Kirihara grunted, his legs starting to fall asleep from holding the two boys in one position for so long. He released his hold on his ex, so Marui can inch upwards... so that Kirihara can inch upwards after him. That slip really wasn't helping the dark haired boy's patience.

Fortunately for them, the rest of their ascent went somewhat smoother. Once they were both on the roof itself, it was a piece of cake for a genius like Marui to get them over to Ryoma's room, or at least the part of the roof over hanging his window. As Kirihara was the taller of the two, he got the honour of leaning over the side to open the window. After dangling over the edge, with Marui bracing his feet for far longer than the redhead really felt was necessary, Kirihara clambered back up onto the roof proper. The raven-haired boy shook his head, "It's stuck. I can't get it to open."

"It's stuck?" Marui asked, incredulous. He couldn't believe their luck. After all the hassle they had gone through to get where they were… well, he wasn't leaving empty handed after all that! The redhead slipped a piece of gum into his mouth, chewing it slowly while considering their options. Then, he picked up a small piece of broken tile from the roof's surface. As the impish boy watched with ill-disguised curiousity as his upperclassman started to toss the rock chunk up and down a few times, and then from hand to hand, trying to gauge its weight. He took enough time doing so to blow a large bubble, and have it pop. Kirihara grinned as he clued in.

Convinced he had the situation under wraps, Marui now took his turn learning over to look at the window, with Kirihara holding his feet to make sure he wouldn't fall. Just as he remembered, the window was one you pull up to open. He figured that if it got a bit of a jolt, it would loosen up.

He hung around upside down a moment to adjust himself to that situation, examining the area around the window as the blood rushed to his head. "You're not gunna get it open," came Kirihara's oh-so confidence instilling voice from up above somewhere. Marui simply ignored his ex, with a pout that nobody could see. Kirihara always had underestimated his genius anyways. With a quick flick of his wrist, Marui whipped the hunk of tile at the window sill. It hit it sharply and banked up, knocking the bottom of the window with a loud crack.

Marui winced at how loud the sound was. Before he could climb back up to the roof, he spotted movement in the window. He watched, confused about who would be in Ryoma's room. He was certain the boy was out for the evening: he had been complaining that his mom was forcing him to go to the movies with her, as it was a film his cousin didn't want to see. A head appeared at the window, followed by a paw and a mewl. Marui smiled in relief, and waved to Karupin, the only member of his boyfriend's family that he'd been introduced to so far.

The cute feline ran off when the redhead actually reached forward and pulled up on the window. It stubbornly opened. Marui got a good grasp of the window sill, then as vengeance for the younger boy's lack of faith, he kicked his feet, freeing them from Kirihara's grasp without warning the other boy. Once he'd gotten himself into the room, he leaned back out the window, grinning up at Kirihara who was looking over the edge worriedly, "It just needed a little convincing. Come on."

It didn't take Kirihara long to join his upperclassman in the room. He was particularly grumpy by this point, but that was not to be unexpected considering this adventure had been very annoying, and held no particular benefit for himself. He could, however, see the object of their quest sitting on the bedside table. Even so, the red head wasn't going for it, instead he was just looking around the room. Wanting to hurry up and get this over with, Kirihara heads over to grab the totally-not-worth-all-this-effort hat.

"No! Wait—" Marui had only noticed Kirihara's actions just too late to be helpful. He winced as Karupin, who he'd been looking for, rushed from his hiding spot to protect his owner's property from the stranger, taking full advantage of the fact that his family was against de-clawing cats.

To save his friend, he rushed over, pulling his secret weapon out of his back pocket. He waved it in front of the cat's face, the fluffy tip of the cat toy wiggling enticingly. Karupin's attention was thus drawn away from Kirihara's poor hand and face. Marui led the feline over to the bed, eventually coaxing him onto his lap, petting him gently.

Kirihara seethed quietly, watching his ex baby the beast, until Marui nodded at him, and then towards the hat. He kept an eye on the redhead and the feline, making sure he didn't trigger another attack as his hand wandered slowly towards the headgear. This time he gets the hat successfully, and shoves it in his back pocket, "Let's book it."

Fortunately for them, getting back out and away from the house was much easier than the getting in. The hardest part of it was ignoring the heart-wrenching plaintive mewl Karupin let out when it became apparent Marui was not only stopping petting him but leaving as well, which apparently was quite an affront. The ease of their getaway seemed only fair, considering how roughed up they were from their entrance.

* * *

Once Kirihara had escaped in record time from the locker room where Niou was teasing him about his mysterious scratches and his unwillingness to talk about them, Marui headed over to sit on the bench next to him. He pulled down on the brim of the baseball cap conspicuously on his head, and sighed, "If you're at all like me, every muscle in you body's on fire. And practice hasn't even started yet."

Instead of whining about how much worse his situation was, due to the scratches all over his face and hands, he gave Marui the kind of unexpectedly adorable look that was part of the reason the redhead had originally fallen for him in the first place. The younger boy earnestly asked, "Was it worth it?"

"Yes." Marui replied, without hesitating. He smiled at Kirihara, "The fact that we've done it tickles me pink. I can't wait to see the look on his face. In fact, I borrowed mom's digital to capture the expression for all eternity." The black haired boy's only response was to grin impishly, just before Sanada incited the team to run laps as warm up.

Forty-five minutes later, practice was at its conclusion, but a certain short American brat had not made an appearance. Marui was definitely surprised. he knew Seigaku was not holding a practice that day, and was only having intra team exhibition matches later on in the evening. The redhead couldn't even imagine Ryoma being hatless as long as he had been, let alone to have not taken this convenient time off from practice to come after it as soon as he humanly could. As even the cool down period after practice came to a close, Marui was upset. His plan wasn't turning out the way he had expected at all and it was extremely disappointing, especially after all he had put Kirihara through to get to this point. Speaking of his ex, the younger boy noticed him pouting, "They have an exhibition tonight, right? Why don't you just go see him instead. You can get pictures of him hatless with a big crowd, and hold those over him."

Marui pondered this a moment. If he forewent showering and changing out of his uniform, and hurried as only someone in his excellent physical condition could, he could indeed get to Seigaku in time to commemorate Ryoma's hatless exhibition match. "They should be just about to start... and they'll do the double matches first..." The redhead thought out loud, heading quickly into the clubhouse to grab his things. Kirihara followed suite, since after all the shit he'd been through to get that ugly thing, he was damn well going to go along for the trip.

It's not exactly Marui's first time invading the private property of the Seishun Gakuen middle school, and with the little feud he and his boyfriend were lovingly engaged in, it was unlikely to be the last. The Rikkai regulars lurked in the bushes outside the main courts, getting as good a view as they could around the crowd, while remaining hidden in some bushes. Of course, neither Marui's red hair, the white cap partially covering it, nor the bright yellow of the Rikkai regulars' uniforms were particularly camouflaged in these leafy environs. He peeked through the foliage, vaguely aware of Kirihara next to him doing the same.

First he spotted the crazy burning one. He was trying to pump up the crowd through the rather unconventional method of swinging his racket around crazily and spouting English so bad it made Kirihara seem gifted at the language. After a moment's search, Marui had located all of the regulars except the one he was looking for.

A horrifying thought struck him. What if the normally so detached and aloof boy cared so much fort hat darn hat he always wore that he'd done something ridiculous like skip school rather than be seen without it, despite the potentially devastating sanctions? Fortunately, before the redhead could put too much thought into that theory, he noticed his boyfriend walking back towards the court through the crowd, from some part of the school Marui wasn't particularly in the know about.

The redhead jaw dropped. Without thinking it through, he stood up to get a better view. Kirihara, to his credit, attempted to tug him back down by the sleeve, but Marui just ignored that. There, on Ryoma's head, was a hat. A hat identical in every way to the one on Marui's head. Needless to say, the bright yellow uniform and bright red hair that really stood out against the dark green of the bushes instantly drew the attention of Ryoma's vaguely feline eyes, like a cat zoning in on the movement of its prey. After all, the first year had been expecting his boyfriend to make an appearance.

The freshmen star of the Seigaku tennis team didn't deviate from his route heading back to the court, but his eyes did catch and meet with Marui's once he knew his boyfriend is looking, he slowly unleashed a knowing grin... as well as lifting up his camera and snapping a picture. Finally, he tipped his hat at the redhead, and then entered the fenced off area, joining the majority of his teammates.

Kirihara finally managed to drag his upper classmate back down under cover, having witnessed the entire embarrassing exchange from the bushes. He yanked the stupid, ugly hat off of the redhead. As Marui's ex, he couldn't help but point out, "And you said iI/I was a brat."


	3. The Silent Treatment

Bubblegum Crisis Ch

Title: Bubblegum Crisis Ch. 3 – The Silent Treatment

Author: Orestria

Rating: Pg- pg13ish

Words: 5768wds

Summary: After the last two incidents, the couple goes on a date, but Marui is put off by his recent defeats.

Seigaku's boy wonder sauntered into the Dawn Ridge Mall, his ever-present hat's brim low, obscuring most of his eyes. He was feeling even cockier than normal, despite the fact that the Saturday afternoon crowd at the mall averaged at least four inches of height on him. He moved effortlessly through the crowd of taller people towards the building's central water feature.

Ryoma could see the large crystals hanging down from the ceiling, reflecting the water from the multi-tiered waterfalls long before he could see his goal. Finally, a couple of annoyingly tall people separated, and he could see the head of bright red hair he'd been looking for, mirrored by the large sphere of pink bubblegum. Marui spotted him at the same time, and let the bubble he'd been nursing pop. Then he gave Ryoma a cute little greeting wave; not the sort of full on, hand moving side to side wave which Marui reserved more for use as a goodbye gesture, but a hand stationary, fingers wiggling forwards and backwards wave.

Ryoma fingered the rim of his hat in reply, but otherwise makes no visible reaction. He didn't even increase his pace, meandering his way over to his boyfriend, quietly sitting down on the bench next to him. Nobody else in the mall made any notice of anything beyond their own shopping. Crowds moved around the mall, crossing in front of the line of view of the bench as Ryoma and Marui sat there in silence a moment.

A very _peculiar_ moment.

The younger boy was so put off by this moment and its utter departure from the norm that he actually raised a questioning eyebrow at his boyfriend. Normally, Ryoma couldn't get Marui to shut up, and now his boyfriend seemed reluctant to talk. The redhead smiled enigmatically before stealing the younger boy's hat. Ryoma wasn't surprised, Marui seems to think it's impolite to wear a hat inside, so it was pretty normal for the older boy to take the hat and hide it in a bag or a back pocket. What was unusual was Marui not making his comment about how it's impolite and childish, or about how it's a shame to hide Ryoma's feline eyes like that. Instead, he just silently stole the hat, and shrugged his shoulders at the way Ryoma was looking at him.

Sometimes, Ryoma couldn't believe how much of a _girl_ Marui can be. So what if Ryoma had come out on top the last two times they'd pranked each other. It wasn't like he was a bad boyfriend, or as if this was new at all. They'd been competing against each other since before they started going out. If Ryoma couldn't mess with Marui, or the older boy wouldn't try and mess with him, he doubted he'd be interested in the relationship, certainly not as interested. There was no reason for Marui to act like such a sore loser. Ryoma had even agreed to a mall date, Marui's favourite type of outing, because he'd known that the self-proclaimed genius would be feeling somewhat miffed. But no, apparently it wasn't enough for the redhead, and he had to go and make a game out of their date too. Well, he wasn't going to give him what he wanted; Ryoma wasn't going to get worried and ask what was wrong, and he definitely wasn't going to apologize.

Without even saying anything, Ryoma stood up off the bench. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Marui follow suit. Smirking, he led the way at his normal meandering pace towards their usual first spot in the mall, the store of great compromise through which Marui first managed to convince the younger boy to go to the mall in the first place, Sportsmark, the sporting goods store.

The first year ace bought a fresh roll of his favourite grip tape, then checked out some of the new tennis shoes, trying all of them on for a wander around the store. He passed Marui as the redhead was busy toying with the racquets there, fingering the gut of one with a frame that matches the colour of the boy's favourite gum. Ryoma hoped he had finally convinced the older boy into buying another backup. On another lap around the shop, in a different pair of shoes, he found the ever colourful boy digging through a bin of baubles that you can attach to the gut of your racquet. They're meant mostly for looks but someone in the know can also use them to alter the tension slightly on the fly. On his last pass, Marui had moved on to looking at sweatbands. Ryoma stopped by the bauble bin and pulled out a plastic purple star that the older boy's eyes had lit up when he was looking at it, and took it along with him. The store owner would probably be annoyed at always having Ryoma try on a bunch of shoes when usually not intending at all to actually buy any, except the store got a lot of business from Ryoma and his family, so they let it slide. The younger boy paid for the ornament and the grip tape, whereas Marui seemed to have decided to save his money for later on in the evening, not buying anything.

Next door to the Sportsmark was their usual second destination, and one of the places where Marui was apt to spend some cash; the Happyman arcade. The bubbly red-head made straight for one of the Dance Dance Revolution machines. Unfortunately, DDR was always very popular, and, it being the weekend, there were actually small lines waiting for their turn. Ryoma knew it wouldn't bother Marui any. The self-proclaimed genius was so nimble that usually once he got a chance to show off, he'd have no trouble skipping the lines from then on, since people who aren't skilled would want to watch him, and people who are skilled would want to see how long he can play before he chokes on his chewing gum. Ryoma had seen it all before though, and worse, he knew Marui could kill an hour easy at that game. He was also fairly confident that macking bubblegum during physical activity wasn't going to be the cause of Marui's death. He meandered off further into the arcade as soon as his boyfriend joined the line.

He killed a fair amount of time, playing 100 yen's worth of a bunch of different games, all with a deceptively bored expression on his face. When he was one battle away from the boss in one of the Marvel vs. Capcom style games, a pair of arms slipped around his shoulders without warning made him mess up his block, leading to his character's untimely demise. Somehow, he couldn't feel too upset about it with his boyfriend gently nuzzling him, especially with how pissy the older boy's been. After a brief moment of savouring it, he shoved him away. Ryoma turned around with a forced scowl, "Marui-kun, we're in public," he reminded him. The older boy knew perfectly well that Ryoma loathed public displays of affection around people they don't know.

The redhead rolled his eyes and averted his eyes away from his younger boyfriend, clearly annoyed, but still not voicing his displeasure. Instead, he took to violently gnawing his gum in a way that was positively unattractive; in fact, it was reminiscent of a cow, or a blond valley girl from a bad movie. Ryoma brushed his bangs out of his eyes as a non-response, starting to get annoyed at Marui's girly cold shoulder technique. It wasn't like he was going to apologize for getting the better of Marui at the other boy's own game. The older boy tugged at Ryoma's arm, and pointed to a shooting game which is far more fun with two players. So, it had come to hand gestures. If this outing turned into charades, then Ryoma is so out of there. Still, he acquiesced to the unspoken request, heading over to the machine and slipping a coin in for both himself and his boyfriend. They survived a fairly long time, as both boys have excellent reflexes and amazing hand eye coordination, and as a pair they're capable of excellent coordination even without speaking. Still, they both died during a particularly rough patch. As the bright numbers next to the word 'Continue?' counted down, Ryoma's cat-like eyes glanced over to assess Marui briefly. Since neither of them looked particularly interested in continuing, Ryoma tapped the trigger of his bright blue plastic gun rapidly, speeding up the countdown. The screen promptly declared them dead, and they moved away from the console.

They exchanged a quizzical glance, each wondering if the other has something they wanted to do. Since Marui wasn't exactly making any suggestions, Ryoma started walking out of the arcade, not bothering to check that his boyfriend was following because there was no chance that he wouldn't be. The redhead wordlessly followed the younger boy halfway across the mall to a destination that in no way surprises him: the Electronics Parlour videogame store. Also not a surprise to the redhead was Ryoma's first destination within the shop: the sports games, or more specifically, the tennis games. Ryoma could practically feel Marui roll his eyes. The older boy seemed to think that he should give up on tennis games since he owned them all anyways and when he played them he spent his time complaining about how unrealistic they are. Whatever, Marui should realize that if being cranky made Ryoma happy, then what was the problem?

Once Ryoma had determined that indeed no new tennis game had inexplicably appeared without his foreknowledge, he headed off to find his boyfriend. The EP Games had unfortunately high shelves, making one short boy spotting another virtually impossible. He headed through the aisles, his cheeks turning a light shade of red that he would never, ever admit to when he found Marui looking at dating sims intended for girls. Ryoma could pray that none of the 'get the right pretty boy to love you' games were, in any way, two-player. Worst still, the embarrassingly girly games were surrounded by equally horrifically girly games, isolated from anything Ryoma would actually want to look at. Considering the day's silent treatment, it was probably intentional. Ryoma passed a few more minutes looking at some of the other non-emasculating games in the place, but when he returned and Marui still wasn't done, he tugs at Marui's sleeve. He wanted to get out of there, but not wanting to actually voice his discomfort. The action earned him an inquisitive look from his boyfriend, but the redhead did seem to get the hint, so they left together.

Once in the crowded hall again, it was Marui's turn to tug on Ryoma's sleeve, just as the freshman genius started to turn away from where Marui wanted to go next. Ryoma raised an eyebrow, but never having been terribly vocal himself, Marui's silence wasn't encouraging him to be more talkative, so he just followed along. He definitely wasn't complaining once he discovered that their next destination was the Dawn Ridge Mall's large food court.

There were lines for all of the restaurant stalls, so without conferring they opt for a divide and conquer approach. Ryoma's order took somewhat longer than Marui's, as normal, so once he had his mound of hamburgers he scanned the many tables, easily spotting his boyfriend's bright red hair. As Ryoma put his platter down on the table, he caught Marui rolling his eyes. He could almost hear Marui making a crack about how one of these days his metabolism is going to fail him and his stomach's going to blow up like a balloon. Ryoma always ignored comments like that, secure in the knowledge that one of these days he'll have an epic growth spurt and tower over his older boyfriend. The other men in Ryoma's family are all tall, after all. Since he hadn't worked out that day, it actually took him slightly longer to eat his burgers than it takes Marui to eat his sane amount of ramen, meaning that even if Marui were speaking to him, he wouldn't have gotten the chance to tease him about his increased potential for choking to death due to the rate at which he scoffs down his food. Ryoma put down the wrapper from his final burger and noticed Marui watching him. Feeling slightly more unnerved than he would like to admit after the afternoon of silence, he stood up and picked up both their trays to dispose of them.

Well, there were a few relatively painless things he could work to get himself back on his boyfriend's good side, and if that was what it had come to, he could deal with it. Ryoma led the way out of the food court, noticing that Marui's pace behind him picked up when he realized where they must be heading. Ryoma could feel Marui following him excitedly into the Nutty Confectioner, the candy store. The most important and easiest trick to keeping Marui happy was to keep him well-stocked in candy and gum, so they always wound up here at some point. On a normal day, Ryoma would take advantage of the sugar rush, or, if necessary, bribe Marui with the candy to get him to agree to leave the mall for the day, but today the goal was to get back on Marui's good side, so Ryoma would have to suck it up and hang out at the mall even longer, doing the things Marui liked to do but that Ryoma usually weaseled his way out of. It shouldn't be too hard to ingratiate himself to his own boyfriend, after all. Once the redhead had picked out enough candy to keep a gaggle of grade-schoolers wired for a month, Ryoma finally got to follow him out of the shop.

The redhead seemed to have picked up that Ryoma was game for more mall-crawling than usual, so he immediately latched onto the younger boy and dragged him into the store right next door: the Urban Jungle pet store. Marui more or less abandoned him once inside though, bouncing from animal on display to animal as though he'd already consumed a large quantity of the treats he'd just bought. Ryoma meandered along behind his boyfriend at first, slowing to a stop next to one of the sections with cats, letting Marui go on his way. There was a kitten that was a dead ringer for Karupin as a kitten there that Ryoma had trouble pulling his eyes away from. Chibi Karupin was being pestered by a playful, orange tabby, although he was stoically attempting to ignore it. Ryoma watched the kittens so intently that it didn't register when a gentle hand sneaked down his arm and then entwined itself amongst his own fingers. Neither did he immediately notice a head gently depositing itself chin first onto his shoulder. In fact, only the loud pop from an obnoxiously pink bubble bursting finally caught his attention. Marui relished the half second of surprise he managed to illicit from the younger boy's eyes just before Ryoma got himself together enough to start glaring. He shrugged the older boy off and roamed back around the aisles, as though nothing in the shop at all, kitten nor boy, was worth his attention. The redhead smirked at the mini-Karupin, and followed Ryoma around the store and out into the rest of the mall.

Marui took the lead then, wandering the central hall. His purposeless gait suggested to Ryoma that the redhead was busy trying to decide exactly what he wanted to make the younger boy do now that he had the opportunity. Finally, something clicked. Ryoma could tell Marui's mind was made up by a change in his boyfriend's countenance a moment before the redhead grabbed him by the wrist. The pace they were walking at picked up considerably now that they had a destination. Marui led them down the escalator to the subterranean level of the mall. It very quickly became evident to the younger boy where they were going, and he only barely managed not to make obvious his annoyed disbelief. If one only knew their favourite stores, they'd never guess that Marui was the elder of the two…

Honestly, the toy store?

Marui let go of Ryoma's wrist at the entrance, leaving the younger boy staring up in veiled horror at the huge, gaudy "Toys-u-Want" store. When he finally got over the horrifically bright colour scheme and actually went into the store, his boyfriend had already disappeared somewhere inside the cavernous retail monster. As he checked around, Ryoma got some strange looks from store attendants who were concerned by him being so short, so young looking and so alone, but a glare made them think twice about approaching him. Ryoma might not hate toy stores quite so much if he didn't look so young. He was over it though, since he was more mature than his age, and again, he was certain a growth spurt and much more mature, handsome look was imminent. Of course, since his older boyfriend had a habit of acting like a grade-schooler on a sugar high, it wasn't terribly hard for Ryoma to find Marui. All he had to do was follow the carnage. Far easier to follow than a bull in a China shop is a trail of chirping, squeaking, singing, talking toys, aisles of toys where every one of them had been activated to produce whatever noise they could make. Finally, he reached an intersection where all directions were quiet, however a ball bouncing towards Ryoma alerted him to the fact that there was an aisle with balls of every shape and size strewn apart haphazardly just an aisle over from where he was. After navigating his way through that aisle, the trail actually seemed to have gone cold, at least for the brief moment before he spotted a couple 'Toys-U-Want' employees rushing off past him together.

Ryoma followed them, and finally caught glimpse of the bright red head of hair he'd been looking for as the employees where coaxing him off the over-sized keyboard. Once they had him on solid ground, they asked Marui to leave the store and in fact, escorted him out personally. Ryoma was perfectly content to follow along, since it was less time than he'd expected to be forced to spend in the toy store. Marui, to his credit, had the decency to look slightly sheepish when he sees Ryoma outside the store. As if to soothe himself, he slipped a new gumball into his mouth. The dark haired boy shrugged in response, hopefully earning himself some brownie points for resisting the urge to tease. Marui did look appreciative, as he smiled in return, although still remaining speechless.

"So, what next?" Ryoma inquired of his boyfriend, watching his body language for a reaction because obviously he wasn't going to be getting a verbal response that day. Marui considered the question for a moment before clearly getting an idea. Ryoma didn't like the gleam in his boyfriend's eyes that his new idea had sparked, but he followed the redhead nonetheless. The dark haired boy quirked an eyebrow at being led into a "Hot Trope", since alternative clothing wasn't really the personal style of either of them. Marui immediately began browsing though the racks. Ryoma, not having anything much else to do since he wasn't interested in the wares at all, shoved his hands in his pockets and followed his boyfriend around, making sure to look even more bored than he felt. By the time they'd made their way to the back of the store, where the dressing rooms are, Marui had a couple outfit's worth of clothes in his arms. Even as Ryoma was raising a questioning eyebrow at Marui pausing there, his boyfriend thrust the clothes into his chest. He brought up his arms to stop them from falling, after which he would up stuck holding them when the other boy let go.

Marui gestured with his hand, palm up, moving it from pointing at Ryoma and sweeping it towards the dressing rooms. Although the younger boy was pretty darn sure he got what his boyfriend was suggesting, he didn't want to do it, so he shrugged as though he didn't understand the direction. Marui mimed what he wanted more clearly, lifting up his shirt just enough to show off his cute tummy, then pretended to pull his shirt off, and then brought his hands down as though he was pulling on a replacement shirt. In case that weren't obvious enough, Marui proceeded to shove Ryoma into one of the change rooms.

Ryoma scowled playfully as he closed the curtain over the little cubicle, and pulled on the first outfit. He examined it in the mirror before going out. He pulled at the shirt slightly. It wasn't that he didn't look good in these clothes, even though they aren't his style at all, but he didn't like clothes as clingy as these because it's hard to do anything in them. If he didn't feel like he could play a tennis match in it, then it wasn't an outfit he'd ever wear. He went out into the hall where Marui could see him, and despite himself, Ryoma grinned at the way his boyfriend was eyeing him up and down. With Ryoma's slim body type, he could pretty much wear anything and make it look good. Plus, with all his scowls and smirks, dark gothy clothes didn't seem like a complete stretch for his personality. Marui's cute bubbly personality would look hilarious in this outfit, although his build could handle any clothes just as easily as Ryoma's can. Marui gave him a wink that he interpreted as being pretty dirty, since his boyfriend had definitely enjoyed choosing tighter clothes for him than he would ever pick for himself. He shrugged at the wink and disappeared back into the change room.

Ryoma slipped into the second outfit, which he very nearly liked. It wasn't quite so exceedingly snug, and he actually thought it made him look a little taller, and a little older. He headed out into the open, and he thought that Marui liked this outfit better as well, judging from the glimmer in his boyfriend's dark purple eyes. The older boy didn't stop at just looking though, running his hand gently down Ryoma's arm and taking a step closer. The younger boy shrugged him away when he noticed the store clerk glancing their way. Ryoma headed back into the change room and got back into his own simple clothes. He just left the clothes they'd picked in the stall, because neither of them had any intentions of buying anything there.

They went out into the mall at large, and Marui tried to drag Ryoma into a store so hip hop that Ryoma figured it must be Kikumaru-sempai's favourite shop. He resisted going in though, earning himself a pout from his boyfriend. Baggy clothes could be worse than tight ones when it comes to sports though, and even worse, they made him look tinier. When the pout alone didn't work, Marui brings a hand up to his hip in annoyance. "One more," Ryoma offered, "You're not dragging me into every store in the mall to try stuff on. I'll go to _one_ more store, so if this is the _one_ you want--" Marui shook his head, and Ryoma was glad to see him relent, although he was vaguely worried about what Marui would chose for his one store. He got more concerned as they walked to the very end of the hall, passing most of the normal clothing stores. Finally, the younger boy realized the full extent of the horror he'd agreed to when he found himself standing outside of the "Costume Court".

Marui started him off easily enough with a simple prince costume, which Ryoma didn't like, but at least he didn't feel like a complete fool in it the way he did with the second costume. He wasn't sure whether it was picked out of spite or what, but he made sure to show his displeasure by glaring the entire time he was in the catboy costume, which he made sure was not terribly long at all. His dour expression didn't have the desired effect though, since it prompted Marui to ruffle his hair, being careful not to disturb the ears. Ryoma changed back into his own clothes, and followed the other boy around as he tried to pick out another costume. When Marui did pull out another costume, he had officially gone a step too far. Ryoma shook his head immediately upon seeing the girl's cheerleader costume, "I'm not wearing that, Marui."

The redhead makes a face at him, clearly annoyed since coming here to try stuff on had already been a compromise, and now Ryoma doesn't even want to play along with it. It is clear to Ryoma that Marui was especially annoyed since he'd skipped the pout and gone straight to the frown. Marui did put the hanger back on the rack, but the hand grasping his hip made it obvious he was pretty annoyed over it. An awkward moment of silence passed, during which the older boy slowly inflated a bubble. Only, he blew too much air into it, and the bubble popped, pink goo winding up all over his face, despite the fact that usually he was basically an expert at blowing and popping bubbles. It broke the silence though, and while the older boy was pulling the bubble gunk back into his mouth, Ryoma explained, "I've played along with you dressing me up, but I never expected or agreed to skirts."

He could tell that his words had sparked a reaction by Marui's eyes. The older boy even quirked half a grin before turning and walking back out of the Costume Court. Ryoma could do nothing but follow. The redhead led them back towards the escalators, but they didn't actually go back to the main level yet. Ryoma took a few steps towards the escalator before realizing his boyfriend had stopped. He turned around to see Marui standing next to one of those cheesy mall photo booths. Usually, he wouldn't be thrilled, but he'd much rather pictures than trying on ridiculously embarrassing costumes. What did have him upset was the fact that Marui was still playing his ridiculous silent game with him. Ryoma had been playing along for most of this date. If Marui was really that mad, he should have called off the date altogether, and invited Ryoma over for a serious talk. Although the younger boy often looked dispassionate about, oh, just about everything, there were certain things he really did care strongly about, and his relationship with Marui had quickly become one of them.

He slid into the booth without argument, although as Marui joined him, the dark-haired boy still looked far from thrilled. The older boy pulled the curtain shut behind them, blocking out the rest of the world. Ryoma just stuck to looking grumpy in his corner of the booth, watching in a disinterested manner that managed to make his eyes seem even more cat-like than normal as Marui deposited some yen into the coin slot. He pressed the button to get it started. As the countdown started, he tried to coax Ryoma into a better pose, but instead the machine's flash went off, catching them in probably a more realistic pose for them than they would want immortalized, with the older boy pouting and Ryoma giving him a standard half-glare.

Disappointed at wasting one of their photos when they hadn't really even posed, Marui wasn't about to let Ryoma get away with ruining this too. He wrapped an arm around his boyfriend's shoulder and pulled him in close, then smiled towards the camera. Ryoma still wasn't very into it, but he figures Marui would just keep being upset if he didn't put in some effort. In classic Japanese style, he flashed a victory V to the camera with his fingers. He still didn't smile though, making his pose look _extremely_ sarcastic.

However, this was the first time the whole date long that Ryoma had let Marui cling or hold on to him for more than a moment, without pushing him away or complaining about the overly public atmosphere. Emboldened, the redhead used a hand on Ryoma's snarky chin to tilt his boyfriend's face towards him. Marui then swooped in for the kiss. Ryoma's eyes widened, as he hadn't been expecting it, but he had always found Marui's kisses intoxicating, and he was almost immediately swept up in the moment. Ryoma was so caught up in the bubblegum flavour of Marui's lips that he momentarily forgot about where they were until he heard the horrid flash of the machine's camera. Despite a momentary frisson of horror at what that photo was going to come out like, Ryoma stopped thinking about it again until their kiss came to a comfortable, natural feeling conclusion. Ryoma pulled away then, a small smile playing on his lips.

Before either of them can really react, they both heard something just outside of the booth, reminding them of the rest of the world. They watched the unmoving curtain with wide eyes as the sound passed, Marui not quite able to repress a big, overly innocent grin. The camera gave off its final flash, catching both their grins, with Marui's arm still around his boyfriend's slim shoulders. Realizing that that was all of their photos, Marui shot Ryoma a smirk and hopped out of the booth so he'd be in position to pick up their photos when they print out. Ryoma glided out after him, waiting for the machine to hurry up, with his hands in his pockets. Marui had paid for two sets of photos, and two sheets of the photos as variously shaped little stickers. When they finished printing, he passed half the sheets to Ryoma, who shoved them in his pocket, totally without looking at them for fear of what they'll look like. Then, the two boys stood there looking at each other a moment.

A somewhat _awkward_ moment.

The redhead popped a bubble.

Well, Marui didn't seem to have come up with any other evil plots to embarrass Ryoma, and the younger boy himself was too confused to think up something to do himself. In the photo booth, Marui had been acting, well, normal. Normal for him at least. Marui wouldn't have kissed him like that if he were extremely upset with him, would he? The only way the older boy could have been more like himself would be if Marui was being his usually chatty self. Actually, reflecting back even further on the evening, the only difference between this date and any other mall-crawl they've done was Marui's silence, and Ryoma's willingness to go along with more of his boyfriend's wishes than normal.

Marui shuffled his foot awkwardly, and seeing such a clear sign that the redhead felt uncomfortable was the last straw for Ryoma. The silence from the talkative boy had been grating on the younger boy all day. He reached out and took his boyfriend's wrist, leading the way for a change. Ryoma brought them back upstairs, past the water feature they'd met at earlier, past the food court, to the garden atrium. It was fairly vacant, since most people found it more charming in the daytime, because it was lit largely by the huge skylight overhead. Ryoma had always preferred it at night, when it was slightly darker, the stars were over head and, of course, because it was far less crowded then. He'd never been one for crowds. He headed further in, so that the plants were concealing them from most passerby's, then sits Marui down on a charming black metal bench. Ryoma sat down next to him, and put his hand on Marui's. The older boy knew Ryoma didn't like being too couply when people could drop in anytime, so he hoped the gesture added a layer of sincerity that he probably wasn't capable of getting across just by his words.

Ryoma wasn't the talkative one though, so he took a moment deciding exactly what to say. He opted for the direct route, because he'd never be so passive-aggressive as to pull the silent treatment on someone (not that anyone would likely notice if he did). "I can tell you're upset. I don't really get why. I've been trying to make whatever up to you, but it doesn't seem to be working." He waited a moment, expecting Marui to either forgive him, or fess up to what was wrong, because it couldn't just be the little games they play. Instead, all he got was the redhead's big amethyst eyes staring back at him with an expression Ryoma couldn't begin to place. Desperate to have his boyfriend talk to him again, he threw in an offer he knew Marui couldn't refuse, "I'm serious. To make it up to you, I'll let you meet my family. Ok?"

Ryoma held in a smirk as his boyfriend's eyes widen significantly. Apparently, he hadn't expected Ryoma to go that far for him. Ryoma had known that that would get the other boy's attention. Marui's surprise melted into curiousity, as though Marui expected this to be another trick, or prank, "My family, dinner at our house. I promise."

Marui graced him with a big, genuine smile, which cheered Ryoma up considerably. A mischievous glint came across the older boy's eyes just before he leaned over to press his lips vigorously against those of his boyfriend. The dark-haired boy pulled away yet again, because he was more interested in the other boy's answer than kissing. This time. Then, he finally opened his mouth to speak, but his words came out as more of a croak, "I have a sore throat, and my doctor ordered me not to talk. So it'll have to be after I get better."

His boyfriend shot him a vicious glare, which Marui savoured. He finally got the best of his bratty boyfriend. He took the darker haired boy's cap out and pulled it onto the other boy's head to cover the glare. Marui was secure in the knowledge that as pissed as Ryoma may be now, the younger boy never broke a promise.

Match differential:

Ryoma: 2

Marui: 1


End file.
